Funny how those in my age group were brought up in an atmosphere of total fear that the Commies were always on the ready to blow us up. And in that event, we diligently practiced diving under our desks when the teacher yelled "DROP!" as though those little desks might have made the difference between life and death. Thinking further about those drills, they were surely as bad as any propaganda we accused the Russians of creating.
After getting 5 hours sleep on top of the 30+ hours awake on the travel day(s), I took a walk around the neighborhood while Suzee slept. "I'm in Moscow!", I thought and it seemed such heady stuff. Our apartment building is one of Stalin's Seven Sisters, which were skyscrapers built in the late '40s and early '50s to bring Moscow up to international standards (or whatever Stalin conceived "international standards" to mean. We're about two blocks from the American Embassy and it's rumored that the KGB kept close watch on the Embassy from upper floors of our 25 story building.
It's as cool as it looks, though definitely dated in the common areas. Our landlord's assistant, Alex, informed us that one bedroom apartments in this building sell for around $600K thus placing it at the level of pre-war NYC apartments. Our place has been remodeled in part but they left the original herringbone flooring, doors and 13' ceilings with beautiful crown moulding. Our 8th floor location keeps us somewhat insulated from traffic noise and the subway is right across the street, allowing for quick access to almost anywhere in central Moscow.
I headed down to a grocery store about a mile away and stocked up. Some Cyrillic is easy to understand, but for the most part I had to rely on visual aids to figure out what to buy. Grocery prices are comparable to US prices, but eating out tends to be a lot more expensive. Not many here speak English, so most of the time you're on your own as a traveler and a good phone app in both English and Cyrillic is a necessity in managing the subway system since there are almost no signs in English. I've been making up names for stations based on Cyrillic lettering that has a few English-looking letters, thus a station with a 20 letter name that begins with PY becomes, "Don't sigh, eat Pie" station. Our station is bapp. The subway system here is amazing with beautiful, clean stations and trains that run every minute or two. Have never experienced such short waits and it's a good thing because the cars are packed and getting to sit down is a rare bonus. Distance between stops is lengthy, so location of accommodation is crucial.
After getting 5 hours sleep on top of the 30+ hours awake on the travel day(s), I took a walk around the neighborhood while Suzee slept. "I'm in Moscow!", I thought and it seemed such heady stuff. Our apartment building is one of Stalin's Seven Sisters, which were skyscrapers built in the late '40s and early '50s to bring Moscow up to international standards (or whatever Stalin conceived "international standards" to mean. We're about two blocks from the American Embassy and it's rumored that the KGB kept close watch on the Embassy from upper floors of our 25 story building.
It's as cool as it looks, though definitely dated in the common areas. Our landlord's assistant, Alex, informed us that one bedroom apartments in this building sell for around $600K thus placing it at the level of pre-war NYC apartments. Our place has been remodeled in part but they left the original herringbone flooring, doors and 13' ceilings with beautiful crown moulding. Our 8th floor location keeps us somewhat insulated from traffic noise and the subway is right across the street, allowing for quick access to almost anywhere in central Moscow.
I headed down to a grocery store about a mile away and stocked up. Some Cyrillic is easy to understand, but for the most part I had to rely on visual aids to figure out what to buy. Grocery prices are comparable to US prices, but eating out tends to be a lot more expensive. Not many here speak English, so most of the time you're on your own as a traveler and a good phone app in both English and Cyrillic is a necessity in managing the subway system since there are almost no signs in English. I've been making up names for stations based on Cyrillic lettering that has a few English-looking letters, thus a station with a 20 letter name that begins with PY becomes, "Don't sigh, eat Pie" station. Our station is bapp. The subway system here is amazing with beautiful, clean stations and trains that run every minute or two. Have never experienced such short waits and it's a good thing because the cars are packed and getting to sit down is a rare bonus. Distance between stops is lengthy, so location of accommodation is crucial.
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